Jan 31 Review - MP26 Masterpiece Road Rage

MP 26 Road Rage, The first ever female Transformer to join the ranks of the Masterpiece line. This E-Hobby inspired retool of Tracks is more than just a fresh coat of paint. Admittedly most of the points I brought up in my Tracks review will remain the same for Road Rage. I will mainly be going in to depth on the differences between the 2 figures and how the overall final product turned out. If you’d like a more in depth review of the mold, please check out my review for MP25 Tracks here.

Hero stance looks pretty good on the lady.

Vehicle Mode

Road Rage is a red variant of the same C3 Corvette Stingray as Tracks. Her hood detailing is identical to tracks and she has a flip over square on the roof of the vehicle hiding an Autobot insignia that can be adjusted to your liking. The most obvious difference in Vehicle mode is her bright red color scheme. Unlike Tracks who was painted with a gorgeous metal flaked blue paint, Road Rage is molded in glossy red plastic. While this does mean that there is little chance of damaging her finish I also feel side by side with Tracks this makes her look…cheap. I can’t get around it, there’s no nice way to say it; She just doesn’t have that premium finish that Tracks has to make her stand out in a lineup of Autobot cars. I know the red plastic is a near identical match to her original E-hobby release so for those who are purchasing her as an homage to that toy I can understand leaving it as is. Personally I would have preferred to have the same metallic paint job on Road Rage. I can’t help looking at them side by side and feeling like I just didn’t quite get my money’s worth looking at that cheap plastic finish.

She's seein' red boys!

Paint gripes aside, Road Rage shares the same excellent sculpting and curves that made Tracks my favorite alt mode Transformer. The painted rims, lights, and silver engine detail are fantastically detailed and cleanly applied with no visible flaws on my copy. Her hood doesn’t fit down tight. This was an issue with Tracks as well. There is a small peg on the underside of the hood that is meant to tab into a hole in the engine block but the friction fit is not tight enough to keep it down. Perhaps this could be fixed with some nail polish or floor polish but I have yet to mess around with it.

Take a look under the hood

Robot Mode

Bot mode is where Road Rage really shines. All the unique retooling and remolding on this figure is unique to her robot mode. New and retooled parts include her head, chest, biceps, pelvis and thighs. Gone are the more squared off limbs and shapes that made up Tracks’ robot mode, replaced with smooth curved surfaces to give a more feminine shape to Road Rage’s frame. The new head is an amazing piece of sculpting and paint work with bright blue eyes framed by a metallic silver face and dark blue helmet. The head is a little shallow front to back to allow for the transformation but it looks great from front and 3/4 angles. The face sculpt is very human-like in the same way Tracks’ was. They have done a good job of adding feminine features to this figure without going overboard with curves the way some have with characters like Arcee or Nightbird.

Come get some!

Road Rage still shares many of the same flaws that caused me issue with her mold mate. Her elbows and knees are limited to just under 90 degrees of bend, her shoulders tend to come unpegged and knock in to her wings when posing her. Somehow I almost feel the backpack is more intrusive on Road Rage, though I’m sure it must just be my own imagination as there are no major differences in how the backpack and wings work. Her head is on a similar, but slightly modified version of Tracks’ neck peg. Unlike Tracks you cannot move her head up and over her chest as easily to allow for more dynamic head positions. She can look left and right but as soon as you try to turn her head too far it will start to tilt.

Outta my way!

Accessories

Accessory count for Road Rage is a bit low. She comes with the same mini Blaster boom box, this time repainted in Twincast colors. She also comes with a large rifle, similar to the original G1 Tracks’ weapon. The rifle weapon is cast in solid black plastic, it’s a large, intimidating weapon but it could surely benefit from some metallic dry brushing in the future. She comes with the same nose gun and she also comes with 2 pairs of mirrors on sprues just like the previous Masterpiece cars.

Road Rage is channeling her inner Wing Zero

Seriously? They gave me this pea-shooter and you got the good stuff?

The tiniest Autobot radio... This time in blue!

Road Rage is fully compatible with Tracks' flight stand. I was very disappointed to find that Road Rage does not ship with the flight stand included. In my opinion this is a huge hit against the figure's value as a package. For the same price as Tracks she has less paint and less accessories. At the very least they could have included another pistol or a second G1 style rifle for Tracks. The omission of the flight stand is inexcusable plain and simple. I know they will be selling the same stands separately but for the cost of entry on the Masterpiece line they could surely have included such a simple accessory.

I believe I can fly!

Final Thoughts

I like Road Rage. I’m not sure why I like her though. I have no attachment to the character or the original toy. In fact I’d never even heard of her before the MP announcement. Her personality profile is hilarious though so she has that going for her. With as many small issues as I have with this figure I still find myself drawn to how she looks on a shelf. She has a great silhouette and I’m sure being the first female Transformer in the MP line up probably contributes to her appeal. The figure isn’t bad but isn’t great either. She is a decent toy that left me feeling a little less than satisfied compared to Tracks but still I’m glad I picked her up to add to the collection. The amount of retooling work that went in to her robot mode works wonders and really makes her stand out even standing next to Tracks. I think with a matching metallic paint job and a flight stand I might feel a bit more satisfied with the overall value of Road Rage as a package. Overall I would recommend her as a pickup if you want to add the character to your lineup, but if it comes down to choosing between Tracks and Road Rage, I would go with Tracks.

What do you think? Leave me a comment below! I would love to hear your thoughts on MP26 Road Rage! Check out the full gallery below!